I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to spinal surgery and, more particularly, to a method and device for protecting a surgical site from adverse effects during operative wound irrigation.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
Currently there are nearly 500,000 spine lumbar and cervical fusion procedures performed each year in the United States. One of the causes of back pain and disability results from the rupture or degeneration of one or more intervertebral discs in the spine. Surgical procedures are commonly performed to correct problems with displaced, damaged, or degenerated intervertebral discs due to trauma, disease, or aging. Generally, spinal fusion procedures involve removing some or the all of the diseased or damaged disc, and inserting one or more intervertebral implants into the resulting disc space.
Introducing the intervertebral implant serves to restore the height between adjacent vertebrae (“disc height”), which reduces if not eliminates neural impingement commonly associated with a damaged or diseased disc. Distraction of the disc space with subsequent decompression of nerve roots can be accomplished by inserting such a device between the adjacent vertebrae.
Current spinal fusion implants utilize grafts of either bone or artificial implants to fill the intervertebral disc space. Spinal fusion implants or grafts may be made of metal, plastic composites, ceramics, or bone. Natural bone grafts have also been developed including autologous and allograft bone grafts. Other bone grafts may include certain man-made substances including binder joining bone chips and composite bone structures.
Often these spinal implants are accompanied by bone morphogenic proteins (BMPs) which serve to enhance fusion of the two vertebrae. BMPs are highly effective growth factors, in that they promote the formation of new bone and the fusion of existing bone. A primary drawback to the use of BMPs is a generally high, and sometimes prohibitive, cost associated therewith. As such, surgeons seek to be cautious with BMP use, so as not to waste the costly proteins.
A common problem with BMP use in spinal fusion is the loss of BMP during irrigation of the surgical site. Irrigation of the operative wound is a standard operative technique, and is vital for the prevention of peri-operative infection. Thus surgeons are often left with the difficult choice of irrigating the surgical site, and thus risking the loss of expensive BMP and lessening the efficacy of the spinal fusion, or not irrigating the site and risking infection.
Thus a need remains for a device which can facilitate the irrigation of the operative wound, while preserving the integrity and precise location of BMP. The present invention is directed at solving this problem.